Tottenham Hotspur vs Southampton | Wednesday 9 Feb | 19:45 KO

[Jaynola]

Our fixtures are what make top four unattainable, not the strength of our rivals. This team doesn't go away to hard grounds and pick up points with any consistency. After Wolves (another hard game) we go away to the Etihad, Burnley and Leeds. One almost guaranteed loss and two tough grounds vs teams picking up form and who are fighting for their lives.

We also go to Anfield, OT and Villa. I just don't back this team to go to these places and win. This is an opinion I've had for some time, so it's not melting at all. I thought top four was going to be incredibly tough before Southampton, now it becomes even harder. We needed a miracle to get the win against Leicester, that's a once in a season deal.

Yeah it's a real tough run coming up and that's all the more reason to be mad about the Saints result and to pray we get 3 big pts vs Wolves, which I think we will...after a poor game but who cares.

I do think we'll struggle at Burnley and Leeds...I'm seeing a couple bore draws, though if we could get 4 pts, that'd be real sweet. Where do I sign?

But you know what, call me crazy but I really feel we could snatch a point at City and Liverpool, and a win at OT. That'd be so us...battered by Saints at home then getting 5 pts from 9 at the big boys.

Them 3 home games vs Everton, West Ham and Newcastle are mightily important too.

And obviously we must smash them Woolwich bastards!

 

[Belgrano]

Yeah I disagree with that. They're a good team, not long ago they outplayed City and were good value for a draw. This was always going to be a hard game against a side who press extremely well and have nothing to fear at all. Southampton is almost never an easy game, even when we absolutely battered them it was more a case of the game running away from them than it being a pushover.

They play physical, energetic football and have the best set piece man in world football and a proper handful of a CF in Broja. I went to watch them at St Mary's earlier in the season and they completely dominated Leeds. A lot of our fans went in to this one thinking it would be a walkover when it was always a fucking hard game against a proper PL side who are ALWAYS game.

They take plenty of risks, sometimes it works, others they look silly (remember the 0-9 to Leicester? ). In PL terms they are not 'good' - they're 10th with a - 7 goal difference. Good enough to beat us on a bad day though, especially missing a few key players.

 

[Jaynola]

the problem here is sanchez, he is marking romero's man
then yes, winks could have solved the problem
and kulu should have controlled the number 15

Hmmm maybe Sanch is marking Romero's man because Rom is ball-watching and totally clueless as to what's happening behind him?

If you play in the center of the back 3, you're leading that defense. You tell everybody where they gotta be, what they gotta do. Rom failed terribly on the 2nd & 3rd goal, he was just interested in his own thing.

Sanch and Emerson are shite, but they were abandoned by Rom and the CMs. Kulu and Winks had no idea where to be. Roddy (2nd) then Sonny (3rd) worked nowhere near hard enough to try & stop them crosses coming in.

I'd also like to know whether Hugo did anything to try and get the boys in the correct positions?

Them goals aren't on just one or two players...most of our 11 failed.

 

[Jaynola]

Oh Christ are we back on this Diaz and Traore shit again? We didn't lose out on either because of money and it's getting a bit boring now.

That dude just won't learn! He's been spouting the same nonsense for weeks now...and I reckon he's far from being done. God bless him

 

[Jaynola]

The whole team fucked up, but it boiled down to a key issue. Player hid thus allowing Southampton to win the number game in key area. Not in this one instance only, but also throughout the game.

Harry Winks casually with the least effort jogged into no man land. There was no potential of any passes into this area, nor no Southampton players to be marked. Winks "played" himself out of the tactic board here. This gave Southampton tactical advantage to break our shape apart. Ben Davies was pulled from the back line by Amstrong who moved away from our box to provide a quick short pass option for KWP and JWP if they needed. Romero reasonably had to move in front of his mark to cover for a low cross to the near post. This further dragged Sanchez toward near post and isolated Emerson Royal. That's the bigger picture tactical issue here.

Then we have other issues like Kulu irresponsibly failing to track his man; Son had become very lazy tracking back, applying pressure (JWP should be pressed by Son); Sanchez and Emerson Royal don't know how to play an offside trap despite Lloris constantly commanding them to "Get out" . If they played the offside trap right, they wouldn't have to screen behind those offsided players, and Emerson Royal would have a better chance to notice the goalscorer sooner thus a better chance to compete for that cross and prevent the goal. In comparison, see how Southampton was so disciplined with their line in Bergwjin offside goal or Kane's being fouled in offside position? They're well drilled to keep their offside trap till the end of the playing phase. Every detail counts at this level.

I you.

Best I've seen so far in terms of analysis.

Are you free at 3pm on Sunday by any chance? And can you play RWB? Little kickabout going on...

 

[Skooch]

the problem here is sanchez, he is marking romero's man
then yes, winks could have solved the problem
and kulu should have controlled the number 15

Because Romero is just getting back into position having been pulled 20 yards out of position as he is prone to doing.

It's not one person's fault, and Sanchez is least culpable because up to a second or two before the cross, Romero wasn't anywhere near "his man"

Actually, having rewatched it, Romero doesn't actually pick up a man, he just casually jogs back into a position in 3 yards in front of their player. Which proves the pathetic level of bias against Sanchez. The guy has his faults, undoubtedly, but he makes far less mistakes than he's made out to.

 

[jack sparrow]

Because Romero is just getting back into position having been pulled 20 yards out of position as he is prone to doing.

It's not one person's fault, and Sanchez is least culpable because up to a second or two before the cross, Romero wasn't anywhere near "his man"

Actually, having rewatched it, Romero doesn't actually pick up a man, he just casually jogs back into a position in 3 yards in front of their player. Which proves the pathetic level of bias against Sanchez. The guy has his faults, undoubtedly, but he makes far less mistakes than he's made out to.

it's not bias, that's my opinion based on what I've learned from my experience (low level)
romero is covering the ball in that case, if the ball was low enough to reach the number 18 romero probably could have hit it
but yes maybe there are many mistakes of many players all together in their 2nd and 3rd goal: for example rodrigo should cover the ball by getting close to the one who cross it
I respect your opinion and also of the other guys who replied me

 

[Skooch]

it's not bias, that's my opinion based on what I've learned from my experience (low level)
romero is covering the ball in that case, if the ball was low enough to reach the number 18 romero probably could have hit it
but yes maybe there are many mistakes of many players all together in their 2nd and 3rd goal: for example rodrigo should cover the ball by getting close to the one who cross it
I respect your opinion and also of the other guys who replied me

Fair enough, refreshing to have a debate rather than an argument!

 

[Saltman]

Sanchez can be dodgy but he gets slaughtered for
doing exactly what Romero did.. moving forward to shut down the extra man in midfield because we
are outnumbered and overrun every time

 

[Deuterz]

They take plenty of risks, sometimes it works, others they look silly (remember the 0-9 to Leicester? ). In PL terms they are not 'good' - they're 10th with a - 7 goal difference. Good enough to beat us on a bad day though, especially missing a few key players.

They're a few points off being top half. 10th in the Prem is a good team, we've hovered around 6th/7th in recent seasons so we're hardly a world away from that. It's all relative obviously, compared to City or Liverpool they aren't good, compared to us? The gap isn't huge. We're better of course, but mainly because we have two world class forwards and a top GK, and that gets us through games.

But our game vs them showed why you can't rely on that. On another day Reguilon and Kane score and the individual moments pay off. Whenever we play a team who are a well functioning unit capable of pressing well, it's a dice roll, because you know we are very unlikely to control the flow of the game and deal with that press.

 

[BrightonSpurs]

Sanchez is so poor, at times it's like he's from outer-space, and this is his first kick of a ball.

He looked physically strong when we first signed him, but he doesn't appear to have much balance or coordination which results in him being bullied off the ball. He seems to get tangled up time and again.

He’s never a footballer. Another example of us buying speed/strength and football is secondary - see Sissoko and Aurier

 

[BrightonSpurs]

must admit, i'm not a massive fan, he certainly gets in decent positions but his end product is woeful, and his crossing nine times out of ten is poor, I don't really think his defending is up to much either.

That being said he's not our worst player by a long way, and he's the best we have in that role right now.

I like his commitment, he seems to care and have his head screwed on, and i'm sure he's a good influence in the changing room but we need better IMHO

He looked better last season IMO. But having said that there are 5-6 positions that need major improvement before worrying about Reggie/Sess

 

[BrightonSpurs]

Sanchez can be dodgy but he gets slaughtered for
doing exactly what Romero did.. moving forward to shut down the extra man in midfield because we
are outnumbered and overrun every time

He is also a calamity in terms of giving away needless fouls and a massive waster on the ball

 

[Matt1882]

This game is still pissing me off.
Hopefully Conte is sufficiently fucked off he doesn't start the same idiots on Sunday

 

[Airfixx]

They're a few points off being top half. 10th in the Prem is a good team, we've hovered around 6th/7th in recent seasons so we're hardly a world away from that. It's all relative obviously, compared to City or Liverpool they aren't good, compared to us? The gap isn't huge. We're better of course, but mainly because we have two world class forwards and a top GK, and that gets us through games.

But our game vs them showed why you can't rely on that. On another day Reguilon and Kane score and the individual moments pay off. Whenever we play a team who are a well functioning unit capable of pressing well, it's a dice roll, because you know we are very unlikely to control the flow of the game and deal with that press.

Side stepping the the "always"-factor (you and I already had that chatter).....

This is why all the steam blown about FBs, wingers and back-up STs throughout January (and last summer) made no sense to me..... We ain't controlling shit on a regular basis unless we can field a reliable, well functioning midfield UNIT.

Not only will it ensure that we can control the ball and general flow of the game better, but it alleviates a great deal of pressure from the defenders. It should also bring an increased degree of creativity through the middle; regardless of text-book Conte-ball being wing-heavy.

Cure regurgitated debate about individual players and 2 vs 3 CMs.

 

[Airfixx]

He’s never a footballer. Another example of us buying speed/strength and football is secondary - see Sissoko and Aurier

Aurier doesn't fit that description at all....

Were it not for his potential for brain-farts he'd have been a cracking player for us (as he was some of the time).

 

[bus-conductor]

This game is still pissing me off.
Hopefully Conte is sufficiently fucked off he doesn't start the same idiots on Sunday

If we know anything about Conte, we know that would have really fucked him off. I remember his Inter chucking late points away in his first season, and it drove him nuts. He fixed it.

 

[Deuterz]

Side stepping the the "always"-factor (you and I already had that chatter).....

This is why all the steam blown about FBs, wingers and back-up STs throughout January (and last summer) made no sense to me..... We ain't controlling shit on a regular basis unless we can field a reliable, well functioning midfield UNIT.

Not only will it ensure that we can control the ball and general flow of the game better, but it alleviates a great deal of pressure from the defenders. It should also bring an increased degree of creativity through the middle; regardless of text-book Conte-ball being wing-heavy.

Cure regurgitated debate about individual players and 2 vs 3 CMs.

Yeah we straight up need better midfielders. Bentancur is a start, he's nothing special (Unless he was simply being stifled whenever I watched him at Juve) but he offers some of the basics that our other options don't.

We need midfield options who can press, who don't fold under a bit of pressure, and can cope with physical battles. They don't even need to be uber creative or masterful at dribbling upfield, just tick those boxes. The heart of the team needs to be a solid platform, or we will see more games like Southampton where we're just bullied out of matches.

 

[Matt1882]

If we know anything about Conte, we know that would have really fucked him off. I remember his Inter chucking late points away in his first season, and it drove him nuts. He fixed it.

My concern is that you, me and tens of thousands of other long suffering fans know our weakest players, have seen this bottling behaviour and know it won't get better.
Conte has only just joined having probably only fleeting experiences of Spurs over the last 3 years or so.

 

[Airfixx]

Yeah we straight up need better midfielders. Bentancur is a start, he's nothing special (Unless he was simply being stifled whenever I watched him at Juve) but he offers some of the basics that our other options don't.

We need midfield options who can press, who don't fold under a bit of pressure, and can cope with physical battles. They don't even need to be uber creative or masterful at dribbling upfield, just tick those boxes. The heart of the team needs to be a solid platform, or we will see more games like Southampton where we're just bullied out of matches.

Skipp too obv, but again without 2 bonafide WC MFs, I maintain we need 3 CMs.

......We can't just stumble along like a dysfunctional mess the moment we are missing just 1 of Skipp or B'cur. It needs to be coached as a functioning unit with interchangeable parts.... It's not like a Conte midfield demands mercurial talent and KDB-level creativity; just solid footballers with a good head on their shoulders. These shouldn't be painfully difficult to find!

Again I suggest; throw Kulu in there; he's a big lad with work-rate and can handle the ball.... Let's see what he's got.